Gonzaga Prep senior Dylynn Groves, the younger brother of Tanner and Jacob Groves, who both played at Shadle Park and Eastern Washington before transferring, has missed a year and a half of his high school basketball career due to injury.
He made his season debut just before the holidays and was on a minutes restriction through the first 10 games as he adjusted to the rigors of the game.
It’s starting to “feel” now, and that’s bad news for everyone else in the Greater Spokane League 4A/3A sectional run.
Groves finished with 24 points, 14 in the third period, as the Bullpups built a double-digit lead and Gonzaga Prep held off visiting Central Valley 65-52 on Friday.
“It’s hard not to play the game you love for more than a year,” Groves said. “It really made me think about some things, decide if I really love the game. But I mean, I absolutely do. It’s just great to be back with my teammates. I missed playing with those guys for a long time. So it’s great to be back.”
Groves went for 32 points in his second game in December — in just nine minutes — but averaged 8.2 points per game overall Friday. But he’s starting to feel fully integrated into the offense.
“My team put me in a great spot,” he said. “(The coaches) put together great game plans for us every week. They do all the work and we’re just there to execute their plan.”
“We were a really tough team to scout in January because most of the time we don’t even know what we’re doing,” Gonzaga Prep coach Matty McIntyre said. “It’s finally starting to come together. Roles are being defined and we’re all getting on the same page. It’s great to have (Groves) back there. He adds another element to our offense and I’m looking forward to seeing us improve the rest of the way.”
It was the second straight strong defensive effort by the Bullpups after they limited Mt. Spokane by 29 points. G-Prep held two of CV’s top three leading scorers well below their season averages.
“(The coaches) kind of instilled that in us from day one,” Groves said. “It’s not about points, it’s about defense. It’s about being together as a team, the camaraderie. That’s what for us.”
“We really hang our hat on the defensive end of the floor,” McIntyre said. “We don’t have a lot of leading scorers in the league, but we have some really tough guys defensively. I love a team like that.”
Carter Nilson (15 points) scored eight points — including a 3-pointer — in the first quarter as G-Prep (12-5, 5-0) built a 14-10 lead after one. The teams scored 19 points in the second quarter and the Bullpups led 24-19 at the break.
Isaac Plunkitt made a 3 to open the third quarter to get CV (11-5, 4-2) within two. Groves answered with a 3 and a pair of layups, and G-Prep restored a nine-point lead after the media break.
Nilson hit a corner 3 late in the period, Groves added another 3 and a pair of buckets in the paint, and G-Prep led 45-35 entering the fourth.
The Bullpups shut down CV in the first 2 minutes, 26 seconds of the fourth. The Bears made a concerted effort to get to the line in the closing stages, going 13-of-15 from the stripe, but Carney’s steal and layup with a minute left pushed the lead to 15.
“I just love defense,” McIntyre said. “We talk a lot about trying to appreciate things other than scoring, that you can impact the game in a lot of ways. So don’t put your head down if you’re not shooting or whatever. There’s a lot of ways to win a basketball game.”
Cameron Walls led CV with 20 points and Orland Axton added 13.
Girls
Gonzaga Prep 68, Central Valley 43: Junior guard Aylah Cornwall scored 24 points and the Bullpups (15-0, 5-0) pulled away from the Bears (9-7, 3-3) in the opener.
G-Prep led 19-15 after the first quarter before starting the second quarter on a 12-2 run, with four players scoring during the run. The Bullpups outscored CV 23-3 in the quarter and led 42-18 at halftime.
Cornwall had 15 at half time.
“As a team, we believe defense wins us games,” Cornwall said of the second quarter. “We locked down defensively, got quick turnovers at the top of the key, got some layups on the other end. So that started our run and we just kept it going offensively.”
Laura Thompson scored 18 points and Belle Hernandez added 10 for G-Prep, which is ranked No. 4 in 4A by the state RPI.
Drae Domebo led CV with 18 points and Olivia Patshkowski added 13.
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